New Heights
by Nymph0913
Summary: After the death of her parents, Princess Lucy Heartfilia must become Queen Lucy in order to keep the balance the late king and queen had preserved in her country. However, being 17 and having no influence over her fellow nobles make it almost impossible. So, where in her story does the Salamander fit in? AU. Side pairings include, Gravia, Jerza, Leveel, and more!
1. Chapter 1

_New story? I think yes. Enjoy, and please go easy on me, this is my first Fairy Tail fanfic!_

_I am not the mastermind behind Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima is. _

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_Chapter 1: The Shadow and the Pitiful_

I felt a headache coming on.

"—due west, and in the region of the Layians, their political balance is shifting towards the revolutionary side. It'll hurt our alliance with them if it breaks out, especially while we're on the brink of war with the Allied. I suggest we take our enemy into the borders of our neighbors to secure them. We can't have them be infected by the spread of this 'disease'."

"I beg to differ. Applying pressure to the areas that are already ready to explode will only quicken its destruction. Let's leave them. We have a strong army, and the second we hear of an uprising, we'll use them."

"I agree with Count Volheim. We've taken too many chances; the majority worked against our favor. We cannot risk this one."

"If we don't risk it, then we wait for war to come on us? Is that how you politicians work around problems? To wait for it?"

Wrong. Wrong, all of them.

"Why don't we finally act upon the treaty we had made with Kipa? If we redirect the revolution under their conservative regime, they are sure to come crawling to us for aid, to which we can demand aid from them back."

"Queen? What is your say in this?"

The word hung like a dead corpse in the room. I picked up my eyes from the piles of papers I was mindlessly shuffling to meet each of the men's stares that bore holes in my face. What was their question again?

"Yes," I said, recalling back two seconds ago. "You all are thinking about this situation in the worst possible way."

They kept their steady facades, but I caught a twitch from the duke on my right, and the man farthest away from me straightened his spine.

"Enlighten us, my Queen."

"We're worrying about a possible civil war here, correct?" As they nod their balding heads, I intertwined my fingers together and used it as a tabletop for my chin. "Then let's do it like this. The Layian people are revolting due to the unfair system the monarch had implemented upon the people. It says here—" I managed to find a useful report amongst the thousands of papers spread out in front of me— "the work hours of the average lower class-man is never less than thirteen hours a day, for such a measly pay. The middle class is struggling to achieve their economic desires, but—" I read one of the paragraphs over— "the nobles are, not surprisingly, given the most privilege. In short, the poor get poorer and the rich get richer."

"Yes," spoke Count Volheim. "And the people are beginning to revolutionize against it. If they succeed, our own country—"

"Should revolutionize before them," I finished.

He gave me a bewildered look. They all did, as soon as the words had left my mouth.

My headache was worsening. I continued: "Why must our people be kept of the dark of this matter? It will, no doubt, reach their ears, and it is only a matter of time. Once they hear of how the social classes are not so rigid, they will want to spark a change in our society as well.

"My proposal is to beat them to it. Let's revolutionize our own country. Let's decrease the work hours, but because we unfortunately do not have all the money in the world, the pay rate must be as it is. The middle class and the nobles have always been at it, but grant them each a privilege to keep them happy, despite the numerous possibilities that they can demand for more. I will work on what those privileges are with my advisors. For now, let's do it this way."

I hated how large the meeting room was. It had, at most, held only 10 powers of the country, but it was built as if it was made to occupy hundreds. Maybe it was because each of those powers had egos and airs around them so vast it needed the extra space, or they'd all suffocate from the arrogance seeping out of their golden shoulder plates.

Still, with the large interior the four walls allowed, silence was amplified thrice. Thrice, their unspoken doubts about my decision rung loud in my ear.

"My Queen, that is very—I hate to use this, but, risky."

"Oh my, did you not say, moments ago, risk was a necessity towards success?" I said airily.

"I did, I did! But this goes far beyond my definition."

"I suppose we are all our own individual dictionaries, then." My bed. My bed was waiting for me, and so was a cold towel that would've been able to dispel of this cursed throbbing that cratered my head.

Then, one by one, the nine dukes, princes, counts, and nobles present here at the meeting began voicing their thoughts, and for the first time, they spoke in unison:

"I am against you, my Queen."

Of course they were. It was too easy for grown men to gang up against their fragile, seventeen-year old queen. I expected they would do this to me.

But I was having none of it.

"You're against me?" I asked, my voice steady and calm.

"Yes," Count Volheim answered. "It is a valiant effort, your excellency, and in a perfect world, it would work. However, our—your kingdom is at stake, and I would like to believe that you do not make rash decisions."

"I assure you, nothing about my decision is rash. I have thought about it for a while, and our country has thrived with being able to adapt and change based on the current events."

"Yes, but—"

"My father and mother have worked day and night to make the crown bend to the people's will! They made sure to implant it in the crown that those who watch over this country must watch over the citizen's welfare. Do you, my dear Count, seek to go against my late father and mother's wishes?"

At that, Volheim grew silent. He was a good friend of my father. They all were. Bitter were their hearts when they heard that the reigning king and queen had died, and taking their place was the unworthy princess, famed to be incompetent. It was no matter. When I took the crown on my head, there was only one thing that burned in my vision. _Keep Filia happy. _To keep the people happy was to keep the country alive.

"I would never dare, my Queen. But I also made a promise to the king and queen to help guide your way."

I sighed. "My path does not need guiding. I know exactly where I am going, and how I will get there. And when I arrive at my destination, the country of Filia will be the leading nation of all the world's nations." I was at my limit. My headache demanded to be treated, and I couldn't ignore it any longer. Pushing my seat back and rising to my feet, I added, "I will let you all think about it, but whatever you may think, my decision is final. Excuse me."

They rose as I gathered my papers in my arms and circled around my chair to exit. Behind me was a wave of clinking metals things, expensive boots shuffling in tiny steps.

"My God, she is worse than I expected."

"Pity. Filia is marching to its death."

Their whispers were anything but. A servant grabbed hold of the metal knob—my freedom—as I approached. A cold air blew past my tired face open opening. Nothing felt better.

I made sure to smile in regards to the servant. "Thank you, Neil," I said, gliding past him and into the quiet, drab hallway.

Neil, as always, was startled at the fact of me remembering his name. "O-O-Of course, m-my Queen!" he stuttered. Before he closed the door, rattling the handle with all his excitement, I took a last glance at Count Volheim, with which he also took a last glance at me. He almost seemed sad. And apologetic. Mostly pensive.

The gap was closed. The light from the meeting room disappeared from inside, and so I was left to roam back to my room in the dark. The only source of brightness, however dim, was the moon in the night sky. It shone through the windows to my right, accompanying me step by step. Piece by piece.

Upon reaching my room, I immediately stripped of the overbearing dress I wore and exposed myself to the loneliness around me. Funny as it was, being near-naked and conceding goosebumps to the chills made me feel more unpleasant, despite my mind raging for my body to feel so. The meeting room was too cold; everyone's scents were strangling the dead life within me. Another second in there, I would've long gone left Earth. The hall was too cold, as well. We really shouldn't have opened the windows at night. Though I was all for fresh air, I could've done without the cold that came with it.

It all was simply too cold.

I wanted warmth. I wanted heat.

I proceeded to my bed. Leaping for the last five feet, I landed on my soft—_oh,_ so ever soft—mattress with an easy thud. The cotton engulfed me, taking in all parts of my body and adjusting to its curves to draw me into slumber even further.

I couldn't, though.

It had only been two weeks since my parents left me.

Their memories still haunted me during this time of the night.

_Mother, Father_, I thought to myself. _Why did you go? Why did you leave me?_

I couldn't lead people, at least, not as well as they did. I couldn't run a country. How did I solve problems? Did I even make the right choice back there? It had only been two weeks since I was forced to take upon myself the title of Queen, but if I wasn't granted the ability to tell time, I definitely would say it had been years. Millenniums. I was already so tired. My strength left me long before the meeting started. Maybe it was when I shipped overseas to sign a treaty in the morning, or when I was managing ship ports and the trading they did this afternoon.

I needed them back so much as Filia did. This Queen facade was an act I was growing desperately too drained for. It was how the men said earlier: I was incompetent. I wasn't fit to rule. I was only seventeen. I had no experience.

And great.

Now I was crying.

I turned my head to wipe my stupid tears off, in hopes of not having to lift up my arms. As I opened my eyes, I did not see the empty darkness of my room in my vision, but rather, a face.

Wait.

A face?

It took a rather long time for my brain to process the information my eyes were trying to warn me of. Then, without realizing it, a scream left my mouth in descending and ascending notes, while my entire body moved to push me away from the stranger that had somehow intruded my quarters. How in the world did he get past the guards?

Wait, again. I just screamed. Why weren't the guards coming?

I kept going back until I fell off my bed in an ungraceful descent, but I still didn't stop there. I quickly and clumsily jumbled on my feet, grabbing anything I deemed as a weapon. To my distain, I realized that what I had taken hold of was a pillow. A _damn_ pillow.

Whatever. Let's do it like this.

"Okay," I began. Father's words drowned my ears—_act superior even if you and God both know that you aren't. _"Do not be hasty. Think about why you're doing this."

The figure, once crouched beside my bed, was now standing. It had a muscular silhouette that outlined the body. I usually wasn't judgmental of how people were built, for everyone was perfect under Him, but I was so sure this intruder was male. The shadows favored the him, however, so I was granted no chances to make out the his face.

"I can get you money. Whatever you want. But killing me will only end you up in jail. If you let me go now, I won't hold anything against you. _I_, in return, will let _you go._" The Heartfilia's were truly a pitiful family. The parents were killed, and two weeks later, their daughter was negotiating between life and death.

"Money?" His voice was rough, but underneath it was a hint of buoyancy. "I don't want that."

I held my pillow up and ready. The shadows around his brow redirected, and I knew he cocked his eyebrows at me. He was probably thinking of my stupidity and how a dumb pillow was or wasn't responsible for saving my life. I knew, because I was thinking the same thing.

"Then what do you want?" I asked.

"You."

"Me?"

I didn't even have time to blink as the man left his position to be suddenly in front of me within less than a second.

"Wha—!" I yelped.

He snatched the pillow from me and threw it to the ground. I tried to get away once more, but my legs were inferior to his—he caged me in his arms the next step, ridding me of any movement in the most humiliating way possible. How his skin touched mine reminded me that I was in my undergarments. _Great!_

"Shh," he whispered in my ears. "I knocked your guards out already, so don't scream so loud, or else they'll hear and save you _in their dreams_." His laughter filled my ears, but with it was his hot breathe against my neck and my cheek. At first, I found comfort at the warmth, for it was what I had wished for before, despite the circumstance of how I received it.

Then, common sense regained hold of me again, and I begun to struggle even more. "Letph—_Mmph_—Go!" I strained to shout underneath the hand he covered my mouth with. I was not going out like this, not in this demeaning, embarrassing, dishonorable way—

A sharp, eruptive pain exploded in my stomach, followed by a numb tingling and the same warmth on my skin that the man's breathe tricked me with. Abruptly, my surroundings were starting to turn black, my own breathe fading from my lips.

"Sorry, Princess."

He had turned me around, and it was then that I noticed the moon light had finally decided to reveal who this was. Pink hair. Toothy smile too childish for someone of what I thought was his age. He looked young. Was he as old as me? How I wanted my last view of him to be depicted as ruthless and evil—for taking the life of a child whose parents had their own life taken away from them not long before—but his grin compelled me to think so otherwise. Assassins these days were evolving: they didn't even allow their victims to feel malice against them. How cruel.

As if on cue, Father, again, materialized in my head, his words following suit. A_ct superior even if you and God both know that you aren't. _

I was going under. Falling limp in his arms, I managed to say, "It's . . . Queen . . . to you . . ."

* * *

_Don't worry. He just knocked her out with a quickie to the stomach. All is well!_

_Well, sort of._

_I'm sure you guys have questions, but I assure you I will try to answer all of them in the upcoming chapters. This was just an opening chapter, so all the fun will begin next chapter. Look forward to it~_

_I hoped you guys liked this and I'm so very exicted to go on this journey with you all! See you next update! :3_


	2. Chapter 2

_Eh, I lied. This chapter won't be that interesting, it's another one leading up to the good stuff. But I promise, it's the last! The next update and the ones from then on will be exciting!_

_Anyways, thank you for taking your time to read this, I really appreciate it. And keep the reviews coming! You have no idea how much they inspire me to continue. Enjoy!_

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_Chapter 2: Pink Hair and Wagons_

One, I was a light sleeper. The tiniest involuntary movement of my body woke me up, and getting knocked out, only to be hauled someplace else, was no exception.

Two, when I did wake up, I was always in a foul mood.

The wagon—which I suspected was the mode of transportation my kidnappers were abiding by—trampled over yet another ditch, causing me to be airborne for a split second and crashing my body chest-first on the wooden floor the next. I bit my tongue so as not to let out a whimper.

"Fuck, I hate taking this way. It's so rough."

"Stop complainin', Flame Brain. You wanna take the main road and get caught by the guards?"

"You scared, icicle ass? "

"As if."

"Sounds like it to me."

"The only sound I'm hearing is an idiot spewing nonsense."

_"Enough!"_ shouted a louder voice which I thought was feminine, but was too deep to be. "Will it kill you to go two seconds without arguing?"

My kidnapper and the other man stopped talking. They were suddenly quiet that I was sure they also stopped breathing. Either was fine by me. I was getting tired of pretending to be knocked out. They put me in the most uncomfortable position, and it didn't help that the ropes they tied my wrist, arms, and ankles with were slowly cutting into my skin.

_Let me bleed, then. See what my guards do to you after._

The ominous threat I had in mind quickly vanished, for I just realized that the pink-haired man, the man who dared lay a hand on me, kidnap me, tie me up as if I was a pig ready to be butchered, and curse foul language in my presence, had defeated my guards. How else was he able to get into my room? They were supposed to be the best swordsmen in the country, too.

Then again, it was Count Volheim who told me that, and last time I checked, he wasn't my best advocate.

I tried to ration where I believed we were going. Going by their initial fear of being seen by the guards posted around the castle perimeter, we were still probably within a distance that allowed me to be heard if I so much as whispered. They were gifted like that. Well, some of them. However, I concluded that we were also far enough for my kidnappers to have enough time to diverge unto another path if they realize the guards were on their trail. Another option I had was fighting, but I never did have the upper hand during brawls. No weapons, either. Could I escape by surprise? They didn't know I was awake, after all, so maybe—

"The hell are you mutterin' to yourself for, princess?"

I guessed he hadn't heard me earlier in regards to my title.

Slowly, subtly, just in case there was another royal figure in the wagon, I cracked my eyes open, one at a time. They took a couple of seconds to adjust to the darkness of the interior, but once they did, I noticed three pair of eyes were locked on me.

"So you knew I was awake?" I said nonchalantly.

"It's kinda hard not to, with your breathing getting weird every three seconds."

"Natsu, don't be rude."

Natsu—my goodness, his hair was _dreadfully _pink—frowned, placed his clasped hands on the inside of his crossed legs, and furrowed his eyebrows at whomever gave him the order.

"I wasn't trying to be rude, Erza, I was just saying what I heard."

_He _heard _me breathing?_

"It's rude to hear people breathing."

"I can't help it, okay!"

"Alright, don't yell." The woman called Erza scooted closer to me. She bent her head to come almost directly on top of mine, and she smiled as the tips of her hair dragged its ends lightly across my cheeks. "How do you feel?" she asked.

She had red hair. Unlike the other one, however, her scarlet head almost radiated to make up for the lack of light inside. Simply by looking at it did I know it was soft and fell on her shoulders like silk.

When I came to grasp that I was admiring something I shouldn't have admired, I blinked once, twice, and set my lips in a straight line. "Like my stomach has a huge hole in it," I responded.

She quickly averted her eyes to glare at Natsu across from us, turning back to me within a second and putting on the gentlest, most fake grin I had ever had the pleasure of seeing. "I'm sorry about him. He can be a little rash sometimes," she said. "Do you want to sit up?"

I couldn't deny my face of the grimacing expression that crept upon it. "What I want is for you to let me go."

Erza snaked her arm underneath my back, to which I protested quite loudly, and propped me up to a sitting position against the wall of the wagon. Not lying on the floor anymore, I had a better view of what was and wasn't inside. Three people were here: Erza, next to me; Natsu sat to my far left; directly in front was a man with eyes that shone like melting ice. Thankfully, his hair color didn't follow the trend of his peers and was instead a normal black hue.

But . . . why was he only wearing his underwear?

Erza managed to follow my gaze. Once her eyes landed on the same thing I was looking at, she sighed and said, "Gray. Your clothes."

"My—?" The nearly naked man casually looked down. "Holy shit! Since when—!?" He scrambled to ponder around for his clothes, finding them in a pile close to the exit. I may had been crazy, but it seemed to me like he didn't realize he had stripped.

I had to be careful. This was literally a wagon full of crazy people. And I just _had_ to be taken by them.

Erza turned back to me again. "I'm sorry for him, as well. That's Gray." She jutted her chin towards my left. "That's Natsu. Don't worry, he won't hurt you." _Yeah, okay. _"And I'm Erza. It's the greatest privilege to meet you, my Queen."

The wagon went through another ditch, this one deeper than the last. We rode the air and came stumbling back down on the wooden ground, and Erza, apparently not holding on to anything, lost her balance and fell on my lap. From then on, it became a domino effect. Her sudden weight on me forced whatever balance I had, with these ropes around me and what not, to go astray, and the next second I was falling myself. Around me came little shouts of discomfort and grunts, to which I was not able to hold my own back.

"Ow," I grumbled when everything and everyone stilled.

"My Queen, I'm sorry—"

My cheek settled on something warmth. Rather, it was too warm to be a thing at all.

"That _hurt._" The voice reverberated inside my ears, sounding close and attached. "They sure know how to feed royalty well."

I turned my head, my eyes crawling up on skin (Skin! That's what I landed on!) until I spotted a jaw, then a mouth decorated with sharp canines, then a nose, then eyes. Onyx eyes that were looking straight back at me.

And I couldn't help but think I was in the presence of a dragon.

Erza, who untangled herself from me, reached for my arm. She pulled my immovable body up to sedentary point again and brushed my hair out of my mouth and eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "I'm sorry, this way is extremely bumpy, and well—we're in a hurry." She flashed an apologetic, yet mischievous smile.

Natsu also brought himself up, but with a hand rubbing his stomach on the area I figured I hit my head against on. "I'll take that as payback for me hitting you. We're even now, yeah?"

I pursed my lips. "Let me go," I tried once more.

It was Gray, busy with fixing himself, who answered: "I don't think we can do that."

"Untie me."

"No can do, Princess."

"Just how many times are you going to keep calling me 'princess'?" I swung back to Natsu, sure of the rage that built up my expression. "I am a queen—_your _queen. How dare you kidnap me? You will never get away with this."

He reached and pulled the canopy back a little, allowing himself of the view outside. "I don't see anyone coming after us," he said, smirking at me, "_sooo, _it looks like we already are."

"Is it money? Are you planning to get a ransom?"

He closed the gap in the canopy, crossing both his arms and legs after. "Didn't I tell you before that we don't want your money?"

"Then why else are you doing this?"

"Why do you think?"

I thought back to the meeting with the powers. What were they discussing? Right, a possible rebellion brewing up among the people. Something—I pushed away the lingering fatigue that clouded my mind—they mentioned something about the unrest between the social classes, and how if we didn't act on it first, the class members would. These people didn't seem to belong to a certain class, though. They talked as if they were part of the third ring, composed of workers and/or peasants, but their attire placed them higher, somewhere in the second ring.

"I get it," I began. "This is a rebellion. You want to change the social order, but because you can't do it yourself, you kidnap me to—"

"_Bzzzt!_" Natsu interrupted. "Wrong again!"

"Then _why!_" I fumed.

A hand caressed my shoulder. "It's alright," Erza spoke, rubbing circles on my back. "Calm down. You're not in danger, neither is anyone. We still have a long way to ride, so please be patient until we get there."

"Get where?"

"There." She smiled for the umpteenth time, and took the wall beside me with her back. She let her head fall forward until her bangs covered the top half of her face. A minute later, her hand lightly placed on mine, she was asleep.

"Let her sleep," Gray said. "She was so excited to meet you she hasn't been able to sleep for these past few nights."

"Meet me? You mean kidnap me?"

He let out a frustrated sigh. "How many times do we have to say it: _we are not your enemies._ You're so dead-set on thinking of us as the bad guys, but have you ever considered the possibility that we may be good?"

In return to his sigh, I scoffed. "Sure, I have. You know, after your friend punched me in the stomach, I thought you guys were good. Or, when I woke up tied like an animal, I said to myself how kind-hearted you guys were. So, sure, _you all are just the best bunch of people I've met._"

He glared at me, but I knew I had the upper hand when he didn't have anything to say back. Instead, his hand went to dishevel his already messy hair as he shifted his body around. "Natsu, you're on guard. I'm gonna be sleeping for a little while. This girl is impossible to reason with."

"Reason with—!"

"Wake up me up after a couple of hours."

"Wake yourself up."

I surged forward. "Don't you go to sleep! I was still talking to you!"

"Princess."

"It's _Queen_!"

"Yeah, yeah." To my disgust, Natsu stuck his pink pinky in his ear. "Can you pipe down? My ears are very sensitive, and with how you're yelling, you're making my head hurt. Actually, I feel like every part of me hurts."

I tried to calm myself down by heaving out an exasperated breath, not because of what he said, but because I couldn't let my impatience get the better of me. During this kind of situation, I must always be level-headed and intelligent. I only had myself to rely on, after all, so this wasn't the time to waste my energy on what didn't matter.

"Hey, I didn't say you couldn't talk."

My thoughts weren't coming together. The uneven road, the suffocation wagon, the pink-haired man whose voice imitated that of a child's—everything was wrong. Come on, Lucy. _Concentrate._

"Are you sleeping? Che, that's boring."

"I'm not sleeping," I retorted. "I'm thinking of a way to escape."

He raised a brow. "You must be pretty confident it'd work to tell me."

I drew him to my attention from a side glance. "Do you think it'd be any different if I hadn't?"

His eyes stuck themselves to the roof of his lid as his arms and legs came closer together. He was seriously thinking about my question. "I guess not," he concluded.

"Of course not," I tiredly repeated. "Please. Just, let me go. I won't press charges."

"What? What will you press?"

"Charges. I meant that what's bygone is bygone."

"Sorry." He shrugged his shoulders. "Orders were that we come back with the princess."

"It's Quee—" I began, but my voice dissipated into thin air long before it left my lips completely. Something told me it would never stick, despite how many times I proclaim I was not a princess. At least, not anymore. Then, I asked, "Wait, orders?"

"Ah, mhm. From our boss."

Boss, of course! How simple-minded was I for not realizing this was not a one-step plan when it involved me? Of course they had a leader; these three hardly looked like they could manage with themselves for a single day. But if there was some mastermind behind this, he was either foolish, for attempting a crazy scheme, or a genius, for actually pulling through with it.

My eyes sneaked their way to Natsu, processing as much as information about him as I could, in case it came in handy later for when the guards need physical identification. He didn't look a day older than me, which was surprising because there weren't many seventeen year olds out there who would associate themselves with me, let alone put me in danger. The basics I already had: pink hair, dark pupils, incredibly sharp teeth; I caught a glance of a long-trailed scar running up and down the right side of his neck when he pulled his muffler forward. His voice was nothing short of an adolescent's.

He was wearing a red vest, unbuttoned, no sleeves, and it was underneath a thick cloak that was lined with a white block pattern around the edges. Baggy, cargo pants decorated with pockets on the sides overlapped most of his legs. The rest, which were mid-calf and below, were covered with black mud boots. Clean. His wrists were bandaged.

The other two, Gray and Erza, didn't differ much from his appearance. Gray wore his vest buttoned and Erza wore a spiky, metal skirt instead of the pants. The way they were, one would assume them harmless, and I was not able to sense a trickle of hostility earlier, but it was still no excuse to ease up.

One to two hours had probably passed since I was taken. Venice made her nightly rounds starting from when I left the meeting, so it was likely that she had already went to my room to find me missing. If the trust I had in my royal officers didn't betray me, they had assembled a search unit. And if my memory of their past missions didn't betray me either, I would be saved before the break of dawn.

"_Hmphfg_!"

My job was to stay alive. So as the others stay docile, it was going to be easy.

"_Hmpghfjk!"_

I needed to be back—I had a meeting with the Chesire kingdom early in the morning.

"Holy shi_—Hmmpphfgh_!"

"Will you please shut up!" I snapped at the source of the distraction, finding Natsu hauling himself over the edge of the wagon, his face a shade of forest green. Both of his hands gripped tightly on the edge as his knuckles mirrored the color of the silver moon. "Uh, what are you doing?" I questioned.

He opened his mouth—I thought so he could speak—but what came out was not his voice, but a flow of repugnant fluid mixed with components of what resembled like corn.

"_Bleeegh!"_

I quickly averted away, bile rising in my through. "Oh my God, that's so gross! What in the world?"

"Augh—motion—_bleeegh!—_I have—motion—"

"What?" I brought my hand up to my field of vision and peeked at him from the gap between my fingers. "What?"

"_Ihavemotionsicknessbleeghhh!_ Augh!" His face redirected to meet mine. Even with only the dim moonlight to illuminate his face, the discomfort and ailment was obvious in how his pupils spun in circles. Dear God, he looked absolutely green.

"You have what?" I exclaimed incredulously. "You've been riding in the wagon fine!"

Erza stirred beside me, coming to a conscious state as I jostled her sleeping body. "Wake up," I said over Natsu's gagging, "I think your friend is, uh, ill."

At that, she immediately and alertly sat up and strode to Natsu in less than two steps. Her hand touched his back as a worried crease formed between her brows.

"The troia is wearing off," she said.

"What's that?"

"Natsu is very weak when it comes to motion sickness. A friend of ours cast a magic bubble around the wagon so it wouldn't seem like it's moving, but if Natsu's motion sickness is kicking in, that means that the spell is . . ."

"Spell? Magic? How do you guys know about that?" I inched closer to them, or as far as my restrained body would let me travel. "Only the privileged have heard about it."

"Well, we haven't really heard about it." A pause. "We sorta, _do _magic."

What she said didn't process properly in my head at first, because it made no sense. Magic was extremely rare and only a handful of people per country have the ability to wield its arts. My kidnappers, right now, were telling me they were part of that handful. It made no sense whatsoever. "What do you mean you 'do' magic?" I demanded, but I was cut off.

Gray, who had also woken up from his short-lived slumber, was on his knees across from me, his hands, for some reason, balled into fists, and his eyes a black abyss. In a low whisper, he said, "We're under attack."

* * *

_Sorry if it was a bore. I won't disappoint next update! Again, thanks for reading!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Sorry I've taken such a long time to update! I was busy with AP testing and finals, but it's all over now and I have all summer to work on this. Thank you guys so much for being patient, and I truly appreciate all the great reviews you guys leave. They're very encouraging. _

_Have you guys ever heard of The Fault in Our Stars? I just saw it yesterday, and legit, I didn't think I'd be crying as hard as I did. If you don't know what it is, go read the book first, even though the movie did absolute justice to the book (which is a first). Lol sorry I just wanted to share that with you all. I guess my thoughts are stars I can't fathom into constellations. (That's a quote in the book)._

_Anyways, enjoy!_

* * *

_Chapter 3: Stars and Magic_

There wasn't a reason to panic because, in a way, Gray was contradicting himself. It was pointless to be attacked during a situation in which I already was, and the chances of the attacker competing for my forced custody against Erza and them were slim. I wasn't a very popular queen, after all. There was only one possibility left.

"My guards!" I said. I slid closer to the canopy and attempted to pry it open with my nose, for my hands were rendered ineffectual. "They've come for me. I'm saved."

As soon as I succeeded in taking a peek outside, a hand gripped my shoulder, reeled me back inside, and pinned me down on the floor harshly.

"Don't move." Gray released his hold and instead placed his hand over my chest, right above my heart. I acted against his touch, but when his dark, piercing eyes glared down upon me, I felt compelled to stay still, or else.

"I'm slowing down your heart rate, okay?" he continued. "It'll feel a bit cold."

I couldn't make the correlation between the importance of my heart rate to what was unfolding before us, but before I was able to fathom my thoughts into words, a bright, light-blue color emanated from the palm of Gray's hand. It expanded until it formed a circular perimeter around it. If I looked close enough, minute symbols and incantations were present in the magic circle, incantations I was not familiar with, but knew it was real, and genuine, and unbelievably authentic magic. So they weren't lying about that.

I winced as a deathly chill resounded throughout my chest, branching out into other stems and making its way around the rest of my body. Every nerve it touched, every muscle it impaired, I felt weaker, my vision coming to a gradual blur. My fingertips numbed, along with my feet and my toes. The only place that wasn't hit as hard was probably my head.

"Be careful, Gray. Don't overdo it."

"I know, I know. _Shit, _it's already so strong. I can't believe they haven't discovered it yet." It? They? "Okay, done. She's down to about 25 beats per minutes and I've suppressed the most of it that I can."

"Good. Natsu, you and me—"

"—_Hurrffggg—_"

" . . . Nevermind. Gray, come with me. We're going to see what our guests want."

Although Gray's hand left my chest, the spell remained. With my senses betraying me and my mind not clearly wrapped around what's going on, I lied there like a doll.

"Don't . . . hurt . . . my guards—" I managed to say before Erza and Gray exited. "Don't . . ."

A sound that resembled a laugh reached my ears, but I didn't know who it came from.

"I don't think it's your guards out there. But, if it is them, you have my word: I won't leave a fingerprint on their shiny helmets."

I strained my strength into my vision and my hearing. As I watched, I made out Erza and Gray, taking the canopy above our heads and ripping it open, exposing us to the night, the stars, and the light of the moon.

The wind tore at me like hungry wolves, toiling my hair in and around the frame of my face. I hadn't noticed we were going this fast before. For a second, I was mesmerized by the obsidian sky, dotted with tiny white specks no one had an explanation for. My heart, as slow as it was, fastened. Even magic couldn't rid me of my undeniable love for how beautiful the heavens looked when asleep. I was in love with it, to the point where I wanted to be it. It was calm, graceful, right—everything I could never be.

In the corner where he was, Natsu's vomiting thundered.

"Who are you?" The wind carried her voice off, but it was definitely Erza. A mere ten minutes with her already implemented her voice in my mind.

I redirected my gaze behind us, beside us, or in front of us, but the guards on the backs of horses, which was what I was expecting to see, were not present. Surrounding us was nothing but emptiness.

"I demand you give me the queen."

My eyes trailed upwards. Reason battled with me because I was looking up at the sky, but reason lost when there was a body there—floating. Flying.

_Magic. _

"We cannot give you the queen," Erza continued. "As you can see, she is deathly ill. I believe you can detect how slow her heart beats. We were told to get her to able help quickly."

"You're lying."

"We ain't," Gray said. "Do you really wanna risk the queen's life by wasting our time?"

Again, a sense of bafflement washed over me. It just did not make sense. Such people were not supposed to possess magical abilities. And even if they did, they would've been recorded in the book that kept track of all the mages in the country—their names, where they lived, what their job was, etc. I memorized every single one of these names, and memorized their faces as well when they were taken to the castle to see me; none of these four mages looked familiar.

Yet, here they were. In front of me. One nearly froze my heart, the other took the skies.

What's more was that they weren't surprised to see each other, or, in this case, my kidnappers did not have the reaction I'd expected them to have when they saw a floating man. They weren't scared, or awed. Rather, they tried to fool him as if they were unaware of the consequences that came along with possibly angering a being whose veins pumped magic instead of blood. It was as if they were used to seeing unworldly things such as this.

It was not possible.

Simply impossible.

"S-Stop the wagon—!" Natsu said on the side.

The mysterious mage scoffed. For a second I thought he met my eyes, but it was probably my hazy eyesight fooling me. "Do you think me ignorant, ? Any fool would see that a spell was casted over her. How dare you touch the queen with your dirty magic."

He knew. He knew they were mages. He was unfazed by it, as well; indifferent. Everything my instructor told me about mages two weeks ago, everything about how their identity as magic users were kept a secret even from people like them, were nothing but garbage.

Gray half-turned back to me and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, it was worth a try, 'emma right?" Then, to the man: "Fine, you caught us."

"I demand the queen." This time, his voice roamed the skies, louder and more spread out. "I do not want any casualties."

"That's a rude way of asking her guardians for her hand in marriage," Gray commented with a smug, laying a delicate hand on his chest as if he was an offended mother-in-law. "You have to say who you are first, dear."

"I am not playing games."

I had been trying to at least rise up to my elbows to get a better view of what was happening, however, the spell had not only locked my heart down, but also my muscles. The most my feeble, little body could do was to let me utter a sound of discomfort. "Ngh . . ."

The man glided closer to us. Erza and Gray created a wall in front of me, their arms and jaws lined hard with tensed muscles.

"You ain't getting anywhere near her, buddy," Gray said.

"_HfgnnnSTOPTHEWAGONhggnnff!_"

"I do not want a fight, but if it must be done to get my objective, I will not hesitate to open fire."

"Open fire? I'm guessing your magic is manipulating wind, right? What, are you going to shoot us with balls of _air_?" Gray taunted. "Don't make me laugh."

"We're going to ask you again: who are you?" Erza seethed.

"I am Balka."

Seconds passed, but because they were saturated with the oblivion silence granted, the seconds could've easily turned into a much longer time frame. The wind, as vigorous as it as, was inferior to the tension between Erza, Gray, and the now-named man. Erza had one hand resting on the hilt of her sword, which I hadn't even noticed before was on her hip.

"Well then, Balka, we can't hand her over to you."

"Shame."

As soon as Balka spoke, his hand thrusted upwards, and an invisible wall of wind, that wasn't so invisible if I concentrated at it, came down upon us. Next thing I knew, I was in the skies, and a deafening sound exploded all around me. The velocity at which I was going blurred the outskirts of my vision, so when I saw the wagon breaking and shattering into pieces, it was all I saw. A sharp chunk flew towards me, cleaving through the skin on my arm. Because I was still cold and numb from Gray's spell, the pain was diluted to a pinch.

"The Queen! Someone get her!"

The wagon came to a crashing stop in two, incomplete parts. The wood that made it up was dispersed in every direction; the canopy was nothing but tattered bed sheet laying on the dirty forest floor. I continued to ascend until I was engulfed in half earth, half heavens. As high as I was, the stars seemed so touchable, so reachable. If the spell wasn't preventing me of so, I would've extended my arm towards the stars, and maybe, I could've felt them.

Somewhere between consciousness and disbelief, I came to realize that I wasn't coming down. I continued to hover in the air, despite all logic telling me that I should've been falling two hundred feet and becoming a mess of expensive undergarment fabric and jewels on the ground beneath me. However, Erza and Gray had fallen, and already, they were standing back up beside the shambles and wreck that was the wagon. Seeing that it was all that was left after Balka's attack, a question so irrelevant perturbed me then: who was driving? And where were the horses that drew this supposed-to-be horse-drawn carriage?

But I thought myself silly. Here I was, floating far too up above the ground, surrounded by mages who were putting no restraints on using their magic, and I was focusing on what didn't matter.

I began to drift. Hazily, I traced my path in a straight line and realized that at the other end was Balka, motioning his hand to control his magic to bring me to him.

Even from this distance, I detected a sort of presence from the man, a presence that was ominous and objectionable compared to the other sorts of presences I've had the utmost displeasure of being acquainted with. Natsu, who earlier had come into my room and knocked me unconscious, didn't give me such a repulsive feeling. Balka could've been good. He could've been bad. Who knew? But, as I looked into his beet-red eyes, my heart skipped two beats.

"N-No," I said, coming out as a whisper. "Don't."

There was about a foot of space between his awaiting hand and my arm when something bright collided on the side of his head, his leg; as quick as it came, he was shoved completely out of view as a grunt escaped his lips. All that was left in his wake was a mere drift.

Balka was no longer at the other end of my path when I reached it. Instead, it was a ball of a blazing, hot fire that burned in the darkness of the night. _So warm._ When my eyes finally adjusted to the glow, it was not a ball, but rather a ball of a fist that was enveloped in flames, and when I looked for the rest of the him - of Natsu, somehow I knew - I came in contact with pink-salmon hair and onyx eyes that radiated against the brilliant intensity of his flame.

He was a fire mage. How rare.

Before he lost to gravity, Natsu reached for my arm and pulled me to his chest, caging me in his warmth and strength.

"S'cuse me, princess!" he said with a laugh.

I thought I would burn, but to my surprise, his fire acted generously well in contrast to Gray's magic, nullifying the dull numb that dotted my body in too many places.

The wind, again, sliced feebly at me while Natsu and I fell. As we neared point zero, Natsu removed an arm from around me and blasted a stream of fire at the ground, using it as a cushion to lessen our impact on the ground. Once his foot touched dirt, he proceeded into a low somersault, bringing my world spinning until he smoothly landed in a kneeling position. He rested me on his lap, and when he stilled, he flashed a grin too joyful for a time like this.

"That was close, huh?"

Erza and Gray came a few seconds later. Erza dropped to her knees beside us, bringing her face close to mine. "Queen, are you alright? Are you hurt?" Her eyes traveled up and down my body, stopping at where I felt a dull sting. "Master is going to kill us."

Gray also kneeled. "That's not our biggest problem. Natsu's punch was exceptionally weak, so that guy will be back soon - "

"Hey, asshole!"

" - and we don't have the wagon anymore. How the hell are we supposed to make it back in time?"

Erza stood. "I'll handle Balka. You and Natsu get the Queen back to the guild. _Safely_." She grabbed Gray's hair and Natsu's scaly-looking scarf, and used them to draw the two boys close together, whilst drawing herself closer to them as well. "You two are not going to fight, you hear me? This isn't another mission, you have the damn queen to take care of. If I so much as hear you two bickering - and believe me, _I will_ - you guys will be going to a place a lot worse than hell itself. Got it?"

I didn't know someone as child-like, yet powerful, as Natsu could be so petrified. Goosebumps raised on his forearms as chills crawled up along his neck. I felt his fingers stiffen against my arm and waist, where he held me at. Gray didn't look any different.

"Y-Yes, Erza!"

She smiled. "Now get going. Be safe." After grinning down at me, too, she left in a flurry.

Natsu untangled himself from me. He softly laid me down, keeping his hand beneath my head so that it never touched the ground. "Should I take the spell off now?"

"No," Gray answered. "Her magic is already leaking out, and her wound isn't making things any better."

My eyes shot open. "What did . . . you say?" I breathed.

Gray locked stares with me. "I'm going to have you go to sleep, my Queen." In all too familiar pattern, he drew his palm once more upon my chest, and the same magic circle appeared between them. "And this time, you won't wake up anytime soon."

"Answer me," I said. "My magic?"

"S'alright, princess. Even though you're heavy as hell, I'm strong enough to carry you back to our place." Natsu cupped his biceps proudly, thought I couldn't have cared less.

"My magic . . ."

I needed to know what he meant. Maybe I misheard it. Maybe they were referring to someone else. But Gray was close enough to dispel the possibility of my hearing being so impaired it jumbled up the words of another person. The fact that he refused to answer me only made the necessity of him answering even bolder.

"Gray, answer -"

To be knocked out twice in one night was a humiliating thing, however, the humiliation I felt as I was pulled back into darkness was meek compared to my restlessness.

My . . . magic?

* * *

I woke up in the light, which was the total opposite of what I saw last time I was awake. The sudden brightness blinded me until my pupils adjusted. The second I was granted sight, I took my time to inspect where I was; I had been kidnapped after all. No matter how unreal everything seemed, my life was still in danger, and my death was the last thing Filia needed.

I didn't recognize the room at all. Well, duh. It was of a wooden interior, the ceiling a dreadful shade of white. There were banners hung, but most of them consisted of the symbol of a bird-like thing. I wasn't sure what it was exactly. I moved around, and it was then that I noticed I was lain on a bed. It wasn't the only one in here, however, I was the only life that occupied one.

My lips were dry, and a headache that could have possibly been the worst one greeted me. I immediately took notice of an unfamiliar pressure wrapped around the upper part of my arm. I turned my head slightly to see my cuts bandaged with a white cloth. There was a small, red stain in the middle.

"You're awake."

With a start, I searched for the source of the voice, coming to a rather aged man to my bedside. When our eyes met, the corner of his mouth raised. "How do you feel?"

"Who are you?" My torturer?

"My name is Makarov. You're safe here, Lucy."

In an instant, an unnecessary rage, most likely stemming from whatever sense of dignity and highness I had left, boiled within me. "How dare you," I spat. "I am the queen and you will - "

"I'm sorry about the circumstances that you were brought under here. Although we expected an enemy, we didn't think it'd be someone like Balka."

I blinked. "Explain what is going on, Makarov." His name rolled off easy on my tongue, and I hated it because it lessened my animosity. I decided to save the queen vs. Lucy dilemma until further notice. I needed to prioritize correctly.

He began, "After Gray put you to sleep, he and Natsu had to go by foot all the way back here. I think it's been four hours since then. The boys are resting now, and what I mean by that is that they're either eating, sleeping, or both." A laugh escaped him. "Oh, and Erza just sent word that she's fine. She'll be coming back soo - "

"Before Gray casted another spell on me, he said that my magic was 'leaking out.' What did he mean by that?" I asked. The mention of Gray's name jogged my memory of what was responsible for why I felt some sort of anxiety lulling about me.

"Now, now, one question at a time."

"That was one question, old man."

"But it wasn't the right first question," he said, winking. "Don't you think it should be something like 'Where am I?'"

"That's not a question. That should be a given. I deserve the right to know where I am imprisoned."

A glossy sheen overcame his eyes, and his expression almost seemed dejected. "Years can change a person," he murmured.

"Speak up."

He didn't react to my order right away. When he did, another nurturing façade masked his face. "I'll let you off. You've been through so much already, and I'm not only talking about tonight. I'll tell you everything you need, or want, to know."

I positioned myself better to allow myself perfect hearing of what he had to say. "Speak."

"You're not kidnapped, Lucy. And no matter how much you try to convince yourself that you were, you're wrong. It's actually the other way around. You were kidnapped when you were at your palace, and now you're saved."

"Are you toying with me, Makarov?"

He ignored me - it's been a long time since someone other than my parents did that - and continued. "Right now, you're in my home, Fairy Tail. We're a wizard guild. And yes, I know it sounds absurd, but everyone single member of this guild, every single child of mine, is a wizard. Of course, that includes the three you met."

"These are things I neither need, nor want, to know. Get to it: why am I here?"

He let out a breath, interlocking his fingers together between his legs. "Alright. I guess you are tired. Don't freak out okay?"

"I don't 'freak out.'"

"No, of course you don't."

"No."

"Lucy." He looked me straight in the eyes. All traces of the seemingly kind old man at my bed side disappeared, and in his place was someone who had the eyes that have seen the ugly side of the world. "The reason why Gray froze you earlier was not because to slow your heart down. That was nonsense. He did it to make your magic seem less obvious."

Again, there were those words. Magic and I had been put in a sentence for the second time.

"Before Layl - you mother died, she paid a visit here around the time you were born. She'd been an old friend of mine, and when she came, it was to ask me of a favor. She knew, right from the start, that you were special, that you were a bundle of magical prowess that would someday be taken advantage of when people knew. So what she did, my little friend, was have a spell casted on you to keep your powers in check. It was the first time it was ever done on a human child, so we didn't know how long it would last, or to what extent. It seemed to do well, given that you're seventeen and unaware.

"However, when your mother died, the spell she helped make possible - "

"Helped?" Despite all the disbelief clouding my hazy subconscious, I was able to use my voice. It came out raspy, dry, and not at all like my own. "She used magic?"

"Yes. She was a mage, as well, and one of the best at that. Let me continue, alright, dear? So when she died, the spell weakened to the point of letting your magic leak out. But it wasn't only due to that. As you aged, you grew more powerful, and the spell became more like a cage rather than a protective wall. That explains your headaches.

"Layla and I didn't account for her death happening. We didn't really think it through that time. It was our fault. I'd like to believe, though, that she would've wanted me to take you here instead of leaving you alone in that palace where you were unsafe, and you hadn't the slightest clue to protect yourself.

"How do you know what my mother wanted?" I said. I meant to come off aggressive, but I sounded absent instead.

"She wanted you _safe_. Wouldn't you agree?"

I stayed silent.

"The spell is dying. We can no longer hide your power, and when it is unleashed, people - wizards - will know, and they will come for you. The only problem is, sometimes they're not friendly. Take Balka for example. Though we don't know where he comes from yet, he almost got you. That would've been bad."

This time, it wasn't me speaking. It was ten-year old Lucy, who had just learned about the existence of magic; whose curiosity was at its peak; who wanted to learn how she stood out from the masses of extraordinary people: "What's so special about me, anyways?"

"Your mother was a Celestial Wizard. When she died, you, Lucy Heartifilia, became the last Celestial Wizard alive."

* * *

_Oh nooooooooooo~! What will poor Lucy do now?!_

_I know she was a little bratty during the last part, and she definitely seems useless, like she needs to be saved by her night in shining pink armor, but trust me, this Lucy is not like that. I guess you guys will just have to keep up with us to find out how Lucy will develop._

_I'm sorry I didn't get much NaLu in this chapter. It may have leaned towards GrayLu this time, but it's not my intentions to have a love triangle (at least big ones). I don't believe in those things, I think they're the worst kind of plot builder eveeer. I promise to have lots of cute and fluffy NaLu moments._

_Please leave a review too! I'm only updating when I reach a certain about of reviews, but I can't tell you guys how many. I'll tell you this, it's certainly not an impossible number. So keep 'em coming!_

_Thank you so, so much for reading and if you have any questions, feel free to PM me, or leave it in your review. I read all of them :)._

_XoXo_


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